UK to Introduce Statutory Levy Very Soon, Reports Say

The British gambling and betting industry will have to pay some £100 million a year, as per a new RET (research, education and treatment of gambling harm) levy. As reported by The Guardian, this new measure could be announced as soon as this week.

In Line with the White Paper

The report says that the new Labour government will finally put an end to the voluntary donations system. For context, until now, operators had no legal obligations to donate money to the gambling harm treatment sector and did so only voluntarily.

The Gambling Act white paper, however, proposed introducing a 1% mandatory levy, replacing the voluntary donations. After months of delays and discussions, it seems that the government has finally decided to implement this major change.

The Guardian said that multiple sources told it that gambling minister Baroness Twycross would be the one to announce the statutory levy, perhaps even this week. If so, the change could come into effect from April 2025.

The Levy Is Expected to Raise More Money for Treatment

The mandatory levy would, as previously discussed, force gambling firms to pay 1% of their gross gaming revenue (GGR) to support RET initiatives. Many believe that this would provide the RET sector with the extra funding it needs to bolster its initiatives and help more people deal with gambling harm.

Considering that the gambling industry has won £10.9 billion in the last 12 months, that means that the statutory levy could raise as much as £109 million for RET causes a year.

Depending on the exact measure, however, land-based operators, the businesses of which are usually associated with higher costs of operation, might have to pay a lower levy (0.4% of their GGR). In addition to that, gambling firms that earn less than £500,000 a year may be excluded.

The Betting and Gaming Council, which was initially opposed to the levy, has now embraced it but is promoting this “sliding scale” for land-based and smaller businesses.

MP Iain Duncan Smith also welcomed the statutory levy, which his all-party parliamentary group examining gambling harm proposed five years ago. He said that this is a “seismic moment” and that the implementation would mean that the gambling industry will finally be “mandated to pay for the harm” it causes.